In accordance with staff rule 5.3, Special Leave may be granted to staff members holding fixed-term, permanent or continuing appointments. Staff members holding temporary appointments are exceptionally granted special leave for compelling reasons, subject to approval from the Secretary-General.
Special leave without pay is granted at the discretion of the Secretary-General. Special leave can normally be authorized for up to two years. The acceptable reasons for special leave are advance studies and research in the interest of the United Nations, extended illness, child care, family support, mandatory military service, and other. For eligibility requirements, please refer to staff rule 5.3.
Eligible staff may apply for sabbatical leave under the sabbatical leave programme to pursue projects of study and research related to the work of the United Nations. Sabbatical leave lasts no more than four months, during which the staff member would be granted special leave with full pay.
Staff members holding temporary appointments may be granted special leave on an exceptional basis for compelling reasons, subject to approval from the Secretary-General.
To access completed e-PAS documents, all staff and managers have to write to their local HR office to obtain a copy. All e-PAS documents will be migrated to inspira in due course.
SLWOP will have an impact on the education grant entitlement and all other allowances and benefits. “Without pay” refers to any and all types of payments. No allowance, benefit or entitlement is payable. The education grant will, therefore, also not be paid during periods of SLWOP. If the staff member is on SLWOP for a period shorter than the full school year for the education grant, then that grant will be prorated accordingly to take the period of leave into account.
SLWOP will have an impact on rental subsidy. “Without pay” refers to any and all types of payments. No allowance, benefit or entitlement is payable. Rental subsidy will, therefore, also not be paid during periods of SLWOP
The conditions under which special leave may be granted to a staff member vary. The table which is attached summarizes the conditions for requesting special leave, which are reviewed individually and take both the Organization’s and the staff member’s interests into account.
This summary illustrates different modalities of special leave with full, partial or without pay. The list of requirements is not exhaustive; and it should be noted that the Staff Regulations, Rules, and governing Administrative Issuances prevail in all instances.
The official R & R destination is normally a location nearby the duty station that is suitable for R & R purposes in terms of cost and convenience of transportation. The Organization’s designation of rest and recuperation destinations takes into consideration the availability of United Nations transportation.
The R & R destinations, as well as the R & R designations and cycles, will be determined by an interagency group comprised of representatives from the UN and the UN agencies, funds and programmes with a field presence.
